Jennifer Lopez Was Told To Lose Weight But Refused To Listen
For many of us—Jennifer Lopez has hands down one of the best bodies in Hollywood
Photo: Wikimedia/John Bauld from Toronto, Canada
For many of us—Jennifer Lopez has hands down one of the best bodies in Hollywood. When we’re not trying to achieve her signature glow, we’re at the gym doing squats trying to get that famous J.Lo booty. But for Hollywood executives back in the day, J.Lo was a tad bit too curvy. In fact, in a recent interview with Instyle, Lopez opens up about how she was pressured to lose weight earlier in her career but refused to change anything about her figure.
“My generation was very much focused on size 0 models,” Lopez said. “It was just so unattainable for most normal people, including me. My mom and my grandmother were the ones who drilled into me, ‘This is how we are, and this is what’s beautiful.’ My dad loved my mom’s body—all the men in our family loved the women’s bodies. Being curvy or not being 6 feet tall was never a bad thing; it was actually something that was celebrated. And so, later on, when I brought that in front of the world, I wasn’t really trying to send a message. I was just being myself.”
Unfortunately for Lopez, her body wasn’t initially accepted by Hollywood execs who felt that she needed to lose weight in order to find success in the industry. But she never gave in or hid her curves.
“That’s because they [her curves] didn’t bother me at all,” she added. “But I got a lot of flak for it from people in the industry. They’d say, ‘You should lose a few pounds,’ or ‘You should do this or do that.’ It finally got to the point that I was like, ‘This is who I am. I’m shaped like this.’ Everybody I grew up with looked like that, and they were all beautiful to me. I didn’t see anything wrong with it. I still don’t!”
Good for her! Lopez from day one has never been afraid of proudly showing off her curves. She recently attended a N.Y.C benefit for the Robin Hood Foundation wearing a long black Alex Perry gown that featured a thigh-high slit that went all the way up to her ribcage—that’s how high it was. She looked stunning per usual.
Lopez is far from the only celeb who has refused to give into old-school beauty standards. Demi Lovato has been spreading the body positive message these past few years, sharing gorgeous and inspiring photos of her curvy bod and even embracing her cellulite. Plus-size model Denise Bidot has become a body-positive activist who has made it her mission to inspire women of all shapes and sizes to embrace their bodies and to feel sexy regardless of what society tells them. And in a recent cover story with Women’s Health, Zoe Saldana opened up about how strict she was with her diet because she felt she needed to be a certain size in order to make it in the industry. She no longer equates her size or physical beauty with her success.
Seeing celebs who refuse to change their bodies or give into these narrow-minded beauty standards is not only refreshing, but a reminder that we really don’t have to give into them either. There’s nothing more beautiful than a woman who is comfortable in her own skin and body—regardless of her size or shape.
